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As fervently as some may support the death penalty by lethal injection, when the process becomes the least bit messy, most of us would prefer to hide. Oklahoma began lethal injection in America. And the state has brought the nation the latest sickening example of the method's problems. On the evening of April 29, Oklahoma death row inmate Clayton Lockett's execution went wrong. It was unclear when the sedative rendered him unconscious. He writhed and clenched his teeth, appearing to struggle against his holds as prison officials injected his vein with the drugs. Prison officials reacted quickly as Lockett's execution turned from an antiseptic medical procedure into a...

Related "National Government" Articles

As fervently as some may support the death penalty by lethal injection, when the process becomes the least bit messy, most of us would prefer to hide.
Oklahoma began lethal injection in America. And the state has brought the nation the latest sickening...

Feeding the world's growing population is a problem that can't wait for an answer. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, agricultural production will need to increase 70 percent by 2050 to keep up with demand.
Global...

U.S. District Judge Rudolph T. Randa, revolted by the police-state arrogance of some elected prosecutors, has stopped a partisan abuse of law enforcement that was masquerading as political hygiene. Last Tuesday, Randa halted the corruption being committed...

In the midst of its midnight sprint to hastily pass dozens of laws before the 2014 legislative deadline, the Connecticut General Assembly inexplicably turned away millions in potential tax revenue from the multibillion-dollar Internet sweepstakes cafe...

When the dyspeptic poet Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867), who loathed Belgium even more than most things, was asked to imagine an epitaph for that nation, he suggested: "At last!" Which is how many Europeans feel about the rapidly growing...

The twists and turns involved with some public employees' pensions are seldom illustrated better than by the case of Marilyn Cruz-Aponte — a longtime Democratic activist in New Britain who retired years ago from that city's work force and now serves as...

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer of New York is accusing Allstate, Liberty Mutual and State Farm of dropping insurance coverage for some Long Island homeowners since storm Sandy hit last fall.At least one of those insurers, however, say they have not pulled...

Under the Defense of Marriage Act, the federal government does not recognize same-sex marriages even in states that have legalized it. This week, the Supreme Court ruled DOMA unconstitutional.
There are two possible grounds, distinct and in some ways...

A massive Russian crackdown on Chechnya's bid for independence in the 1990s and the installation of loyal leaders there pushed the Caucasus Muslim enclave from the headlines years ago. But resentment has festered and at times bled into the global holy war...

On Friday, the General Assembly's budget-writing Appropriations Committee answered Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's proposed budget with its proposal. On education reform, the committee's response is very disappointing.
Rather than building on last year's...

Every presidential administration hates leaks of classified or politically sensitive information and promises to put a stop to them. The Obama administration's baying-bloodhound chase of suspected leakers, however, is beyond the pale.
A prime example...

For the most part, the people serving us in Hartford are good, and many are exceptionally good. They are so good that when Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was elected, he plucked legislators like Sen. Andrew McDonald and Rep. Mike Lawlor to serve in his...

Americans are overwhelmingly opposed to shutting down the government as a tactic to derail the Affordable Care Act, even though they are divided on the law itself, a new national Quinnipiac University poll has found. Indeed, 72 percent of respondents...

Hours after the federal government went into a partial shutdown, House Republicans offered an inducement to the president for negotiations over their differences: legislation that would restore funding for national parks, veterans programs and the...

The crazy wing of the Republican Party finally got what it wanted. The federal government has been shut down for the first time in nearly 18 years because the GOP refused to approve further government funding unless the Patient Protection and Affordable...

For all the hyped indignation over GOP "anarchism," there has been remarkable media reticence about the president's intransigence. He has refused to negotiate anything unless the Republicans fully fund the government and raise the debt ceiling —...

In the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy, it's understandable that government officials may look for quick fixes, especially those that might relieve some of the victims' anguish. But emotion-charged quick fixes and knee-jerk responses often bring...

"The capacity to blunder slightly is the real marvel of DNA. Without this special attribute, we would still be anaerobic bacteria and there would be no music." — Lewis Thomas
The pedigree of human beings, Thomas wrote, probably traces to a...

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume...

Last week, my vacation travel took me through Franconia Notch, N.H. This smooth-sided glacial valley struck me as more beautiful than ever, now that the "Old Man of the Mountain" is gone and the scar left from where he fell has been healed by...